a little piece of earth

we are homeowners! somehow a miracle occured and we have received the keys to a little blue craftsman house one block from where we live now. here is a photo of the proud bandstra boys in front of their new home.

although i've been a content renter for a long time, and have especially enjoyed our years here on humboldt street, i'm beginning to understand the mythology of homeownership. while i'm not sure it's necessarily the american dream, there is definitely something very special about having a little piece of earth to call one's own. (remember mary's garden in the secret garden?) i haven't seen aaron so excited in a long time--always thinking of ways to make our new little home better, more beautiful, more solid, more efficient, and mostly so happy to be able to do something very useful for his family. and i am finding myself dreaming about growing food and flowers, and learning how to care for our little piece of earth, and teaching noah to tend things too. and it's so fun to have a blank palette from which to work--to consider our family's needs, our values and our style, and how to help our home to embody those. there's just so much possibility! so suddenly i am understanding that there is a difference in the level of care given to a place that is someone else's versus a place that is yours. i hope we can be good stewards of this little piece of earth we've been given.

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our plan is to stay in our apartment for a few months while aaron works on making the new house lovely, and to move in at the end of july. hopefully that will leave enough time to settle in before this new baby comes!

i'm excited to start my little garden over there and noah has requested a sandbox, which should keep the two of us occupied while aaron does the big work. aaron began today by tearing out the contents of the bathroom, the kitchen and a closet in the front of the house. work will continue this week with removal of the chimney and the three layers of old roofing. then next saturday will be a big work party to put up a new roof. and then... well, that's enough for now!

we'll keep posting pictures as things progress. here are some symbolic images of our new status.

i'm not sure why there is a steelers emblem on our house key, but it worked to open the front door. note that the other one says wal-mart. we will be making new copies of these keys soon.



our very own mailbox! i affixed this label today and clipped on some outgoing mail... we'll see if it works!